Forming Intelligent Cognitive Maps with Rat

Chinese astrological legend posits that Rat was the first
to arrive among the 12 animals that heeded Buddha’s call

Are you aroused by a sweet and spirited
fragrance fueling your olfactory senses?

May has blossomed from a most powerful
Flower Full-Bellied Wesak Moon
Sowing the seeds of Love over us last Sunday
Shining the Light of compassion onto our World

Let it Be that the
Love of Mother Mary and Christ Consciousness
Shine sunlight onto shadowy planetary dark edges

On this Sunday, what better a day to honor
the Sacred Feminine Energy on Mother’s Day!
Thank you Mother Earth for giving us a home to live on
May we rekindle our commitment to live in harmony with You again

The Empire has studied rats and applied Its scientific observations
on the psychology of humanity
The shroud of the Dark Side of social science has used this knowledge to
manipulate and control the masses to keep us in hibernation

But if you look behind Imperial smokescreens and propagated patriotism –
Your spiritual gait will not be deflated and your footing will remain secure

Humanity is on the cusp of an eye-opening
evolutionary impulse to wake-up from a hypnotic trance and
Re-member our spiritual Nature

The Old Guard is afraid to let go of Its grip

A New Hope of Divine marital vows is lightening-up –
Keeping the flame lit with peaceful internal cohabitation

Masculine and Feminine energies live in domestic partnership
Dancing together in an egalitarian Tango

On the surface, many folks sound the alarm and hit the panic button
when they notice a rat or some other pest
nervously exploring their environment

Are you not handling the pests in your life properly?
What mirror are they holding up for you to self-examine?

Beyond a cursory glance or an attachment to a rigid perspective . . .
Might we observe a window into a deeper perceptual reality –
waiting to be explored?

It is easier to stop at the judgment and hold a fixed idea or position . . .

“Good fences make good neighbors”
Get that varmint off my property line!
Asserts the programmed “voice in the head”

But are you shrewd enough to sniff out the challenge and opportunity to
aggressively dig a little deeper to spring the traps
of your protective scar tissue and psychic defenses?

Success, restlessness and shrewdness are the ways of Rat Medicine
As are sociability and adaptability part of their daily vitality

Rat guides us into industry and cooperative efforts in community
Just waiting to flower across the fruited plain of humanity

“Become the change you want to see in the world”

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Accessing the Resourcefulness of Racoon

Raccoon cleverly guides us into a powerful enterprise of spiritual understanding –
All the necessary resources are available to us

A fragrant Flower Full Moon
Awakens our senses to the Buddha’s blossoming light of compassion
Shining onto our collective consciousness

“Fair isn’t that everyone gets what they want . . .
Fair is that everyone gets what they need.”

Do you believe in Divine Will –
that the Universe will provide us with everything we need?

In a more equitable, fair and just rebirthing New Earth . . .

This truth of abundance will become more self-evident!

There is no need to greedily concentrate global resources into the top 1%
Or by wearing a concealed criminal mask underneath a white or blue-collar –
Behind closed doors or out on the street

“Don’t believe the hype!”

Is Raccoon prompting you to get organized or mask your objectives?

Like humans, raccoons are highly adaptable creatures –
We need to access this inner resource during our transition into a New Age

Raccoon’s mask is symbolic of the magic of transformation . . .
Leaving behind who you once were,
while branching out into a budding new identity –
Spring forth and cross over into new dimensions

Faith, trust and a meditative heart
Will open you up to an infinite field of solutions –
Know that the resources you need are on their way

There is no need to hoard or plunder our home planet Earth’s resources anymore
We all win when we treat Her and one another with dignity and respect

Raccoons are natural martial artists
“Be a defensive driver in Life.”
Breathe in the calm in the eye of the storm . . .

Are you able to harmonize with your conflict?
Do you hear the attached emotions within your self or
from that pesky other person that is triggering you?

Are you being agile enough to make friends with inner peace –
Instead of externally demonizing another person, place or thing?

Try not to become seduced by making up sensational stories
about how you have been wronged or persecuted by others
Or by playing the blame game or beating up on yourself or someone else

Raccoon can guide you into finding a peaceful way
toward greater empathy, compassion and understanding
for yourself and your relationships

Given that we are all connected –
Try to see yourself in all that you encounter . . .
Especially when hiding behind their more distressing disguises

What aspect of yourself is masked behind darkness –
Just waiting to walk out of the shadows and jump into the sunlight?

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Perfectly Imperfect with the Grace of Swan

Paddling along with the grace of a Swan . . .
We could become inspired
to appreciate the beauty within the
indoors and outdoors of everyday Life

Do you see the beauty within your own Being and
the world around you?

Do you appreciate the apparent paradoxical imperfections?

Might we dig deep enough
and rise up to the challenge and opportunity –
to make friends with whatever we do not like about ourselves?

Trying to lead a perfect life . . .
Is a foul stink of unhappiness
As is augmenting anything perceived as undesirable

Becoming mutable by adjusting our internal world
Opens us up to the sacred space of inner peace

Transient remedies to sitting with what is –
Are conveniently inconvenient distractions from the Now
Because cosmetic changes only temporarily placate the little ego

Remember that “the Tao does nothing and yet leaves nothing undone”
We are aware that we are aware

Our modern world has an appetite for destruction and super-sized meals
The Empire hisses that cosmetic surgical procedures
will swoop in to rescue us

A dying old world paradigm
parrots marketed mental tapes that suggest
removal of scar tissue will cure us
from built-up excessive fats
that are pushed on the masses

An externally driven culture of band-aids and face-lifts
Gleans the Silver Screen
“Who stole the soul?”

When greed is perceived as good
We understand the Liberty of the Stock Exchange has
Properly programmed us to pledge our allegiance
to the Almighty Dollar

How much money do you really need?
Don’t you know that maximum economic profit can’t buy you harmony

But a more equitable and intentional sharing of abundance –
Facilitates shifting our heartfelt beliefs into intuitive knowing . . .

We understand equal access to concrete resources
When a more fair and just New Earth is revealed

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

A Natural Spring Cleaning with Frog Power

Frog Medicine is a powerful Spring cleaning of sorts
Time to clear away dust bunnies that have accumulated over last Winter

Frog calls on a parade of rain to cleanse the filth and muck
that has attached itself to dirty watery windows of our souls

Now is the time to let go of stale, stuck energies
that want to uproot your soul’s impetus to evolve and grow

Base! Root Chakra –
How low can you go?
Just let your energy flow –
Down through the soles of your feet
and into the ground your roots will grow

We need to honor our tears
to authentically experience our own silent fluidity

Meditation on Frog is akin to Feng Shui –
Or an internal martial artist chi washing away
any person, place or thing that is causing you emotional negativity

What needs to be released from your psyche?

Picture a Frog to help you cultivate your personal boundaries

Visualize transformative travels through powerful conductors of water and sound
Your creative powers want to spring into action!

Amphibians are connections to magical elemental forces of water and land
Their energetic footprint is an inspiration to sing forth the rains
to cleanse the blues of muddy waters with soulful purification

Use their medicine to awaken to Lunar energies of abundance and fertility

Do you need to transform your way of hopping through life?

Metamorphosis is in the air as May flowers are right around the corner

Are the stresses of everyday life leaving you feeling depleted?

Pay attention to your breathing patterns

Does this world got you all charged up?
Fine-tune your internal strings
by unplugging for a spell and
just be with what resonates

Stop!

Relax by taking deep breaths to quench your thirsty mind-body-spirit vessel!

Use your voice to call forth the Climate Change
your life needs to amplify your soul development

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Sticking to the Points of Porcupine’s Prophetic Wisdom

We are kissed by a strong Pink Full Moon today –
Oh what a greeting!
Dancing under a bright Spring Eclipse setting

A powerful and transformative catalyst illuminates the scenery . . .
Picture a budding green New World

Have you caught wind of the pungent stink of rebirth in the air?

We humans are mostly water –
So, it stands to reason that, on some level at least,
we are all affected by Full Moon’s
In much the same way as “hospitals, police stations and the ocean’s tides”
Might as well swim with Her currents

Isn’t that just another opportunity for deepening our empathy for one another?

Porcupine medicine stimulates the flow of innocence and joy
Reawakening a sense of wonder energetically
A light-hearted feeling of detachment is rediscovered playfully

Some Native American tribes use Porcupine quills to
stimulate energy to get stuck emotional waters
become flowing streams

Tribal wisdom on this continent is akin
to ancient Taoist wisdom that brought acupuncture needles to these shores

It is as if Porcupine leaves behind an air of nonchalant humor that jests
that even beyond China, that’s just the way the egg rolls

Yes, we live in an intense outer world with serious problems
But there are more powerful than usual spirited energies
that want us to see infinite solutions
facilitate positive changes moving away from our dysfunctional ways

Do you have enough faith to move mountains and trust in a Divine Plan?

Learning to dance in our daily walk
Awakens a sense of blissful adventure

Try not to get pricked by our anxiety-ridden, adult-centric old world
of fear, greed and suffering . . .
Train yourself to let go of
the toxicity of manipulation, dog eat dog and an eye for an eye mentality

Be open to the magical mind of child
There is strength in vulnerability
But keep your inner child well protected

Try not to get swayed by what others think you should or shouldn’t be doing
Explore fun and enjoyable activities that you want to do

Are you feeling charged by the emotional barbs of others?

“Freedom comes when we deal with the pain behind the button,
thus disconnecting our automatic reaction to being pushed”

We are all created intrinsically equal
Nobody is built better or worse than anyone else
We just have different talents
that, with our diverse gifts, we can help build a better world for all of us

Curiosity stimulates our minds and resurrects our souls . . .
Know the power of imagination and fantasy
just waiting to be discovered within the mundane world of everyday life

Even a grumpy old bear is inspired by Porcupine’s way
of enjoying playfully childlike games.

May we allow our identification with intellectualism to fall away
As we spring forth a fiery heart’s intuition

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

A Pelican State of Being

Pelican flies into our daily meditations
Offering deeper glimpses into our soul power

Their energy inspires us to release judgments to the Universe

Picture sending them out into far out black hole vortexes
Where they are transmuted into healing rays of light

Perhaps you have judgments about grieving the death of Winter
Given that you have been anxiously awaiting the arrival Spring
Are you feeling depressed about these changes –
Or not allowing organic feelings mulch as they may?

But season’s change and so do we
Nature shows us that everything is transitory, fleeting and ephemeral

Sometimes, what seems like a curse is merely a hidden blessing
in a brilliant disguise

Holding on to our judgments, like emotions
leads to blockages in our bodies – like stagnant water

Clearing stuck energy sows seeds of Love
Blazing new pathways that want to grow into our spirits, minds . . .
eventually taking root in our bodies

So it is important to listen to our bodies
Because it leads us through the theatrical chatter of our minds

To the realm of spirit . . .
Where there is so much help available to us, if only we ask

Remember that Love is patient and kind
But if you don’t believe that
then so it shall be done unto you

Our pain is real
But suffering is a choice

May your pain lead you toward a letting go and a surrendering
to the will of the Universe

Secure your footing in your own personal authority
The time is now to take back our projections

Returning to an intrinsic heart-space of Love
Here we enter into a light-hearted portal of inner peace
Soothing yourself without bringing in the Calvary

Pelicans reveal balancing competition and cooperation when catching fish
Leaving behind a fixed idea that competition must equal maximum economic profit
or that cooperation means socialism, communism
or any other dirty fixed ideas that have locked us up in toxicity and stagnation

Meditation on forgiveness
is really about understanding that you win on the inside
when you choose to forgive
There is levitation in the release of judgements

You can let your judgements go
and your spiritual power will grow

Consider examining your own judgments . . .
Are you willing to scuba dive beneath
the surface of your anger and emotional negativity?
And whatever stories you attach to those vibrations?

Our old world is falling through the cracks
Its crevices are splitting with judgments that some
people are oriented in ways that are superior or inferior to others

Is the top socioeconomic 1% entitled to greater welfare than the rest of us?
Do we value masculinity more than femininity?
Or the opposite side of the same coin?
Should we be protecting dirty policies that trash our planet?

This is not to say that we should not celebrate pride in our diversity
But a New Age needs a strong foundation of Oneness and Unity
Where we can breathe in fresh air of planetary equanimity

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Chickadee Sings these Songs of Springdom

Chickadees are fearless peaceful warriors
Their small stature is met with thunderous lightning
revealing the power of bystanders –
“If you see something, say something”

Singing cheerful songs unlocking Truth in a key that is safe to our ears

A Powerful Pisces New Moon with Vernal Equinox
Illuminates a natural embodiment of energetic gender equality
Remember to stand in your own personal authority

Now masculine-yang is beginning to assert his sunlight
Echoed by a powerful Pisces New Moon amplifying feminine-yin dark nights
during this Spring Eclipse Season

A Critical Mass can tip the scales and will come about
Hopefully smooth sailing is your preferred navigational method –
even during dark and stormy weather fronts

But new portals of light want to shine on our consciousness
Like Snake, it is time to shed our old skin
May we breathe in fresh new air of inner peace
and then exhale deadened stagnant air that suffocates

Black caps symbolizes intellect and higher level thinking

We are a diversified and unified portfolio
Sharing equal slices of humble pie
Divergent expressions of Great Spirit

When we look through a lens of equality
We honor and respect each other’s diversity in unity

Expanding our consciousness to rise above the
gravitational pull of the material realm

Regardless of maturation –
Transformation is awaiting resurrection
Let us know adaptability within seasonal mutability

Movement into a New Age
Springs into action
an intentional reworking of success

New economies and novel ways of thinking
are cogs in rebalancing new wheels of equanimity within worldly powers
A New Earth is being born and ready to take flight

We don’t need the privileged powerful positions of authority
to tell us what is in our best interests anymore

Remember that boxes of rain
clear stagnant dirty waters away
that spring forth floral bouquets
in colorful arrangements of
little greenhouses for you and me

May we wake up expecting synchronicity
Dream woven into our waking reality

Meditation in Nature will reveal intrinsic security
Reflecting back to you in your outer world
When you are calm with an open-passive attitude of trust and empathic curiosity

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

With Gulls, We See Beneath Red Herrings

A Full Worm Moon passed us by last week
Like Nature’s outwardly changing seasons
Our energetic tides ebb and flow internally

Herrings help us see the subtleties of communication
So that we become adept at reading what is
flying below the radar in our social environment

Genuine respect is a key ingredient to being a well-versed social animal
Our Divine constitution is awakened in this location

As shoreline birds,
Gull teaches us to see the writing on the wall and read between the lines

In between land and sea, shorelines are of places of great magic and mystery
Ordinary spaces between our busy events are wanting to be seen as extraordinary

Do you hear John Lennon’s voice fly in from the Dreamtime,
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

Are you willing to sail away from an old hard land
and take a leap of faith onto the shores of a fluid New World?

Seagulls remind us that reality has both surface and depth

Powerful energies are intensifying and arriving through our perceptual pathways
Like when light is let in to brighten up a dark room
We don’t always like what we see

Meditation on allowing the sunlight to illuminate the shadows
is good medicine right now

When navigating elemental forces of land and air . . .
We need to learn to swim and fly
in the multidimensional waters and skies of Life

Body language is the psychology of communication
If we are what we eat and appetite comes with eating
Then may we drink in Herrin’s teachings to stimulate a healthy diet
to clean up the ecology of our daily lives

“The personal is the political”

Whether bleeding from our deepest cuts or flesh wounds
The time is now to release and let go of our old pains

Might as well weather our shifting fronts with transformational grace

Stay alert, stay aware and be present with what is
Try not to get sucked into the control dramas of others
Or your own insidious anxieties and chattering repetitive mental tapes

Be a spiritual watcher of yourself
We are aware that we are aware

A fortress around your heart might appear to serve as protection
from being stoned by others living in glass houses

But do you believe that the sweet surrender of vulnerability
will be held up by Universal pillars of Love and Truth
while holding a firm foundation of personal and cosmic intimacy?

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Facing North with Lynx

Facing North with Lynx
We venture across space and time
Discovering hidden lost treasures

How do we allow past lives
Illuminate the shadows of the present
To set sail toward clear skies ahead?

Nature gives birth to our blueprint orientations
But we are free to make our own footprints

What has been passed on to you by your ancestors?

While tracking with our snow shoe paws
We awaken to Heavenly knowledge of Dreamtime

What secret forecasts are hiding behind the clouds?

Remember that solitude need not be a lonely experience

Are your distractions a sleep-aid to your soul promptings?

Think outside the box . . .
What solutions do you hear echoing from stillness speaking?

Do you see or hear an unseen core of truth?

Lynx medicine is akin to spiritual x-ray vision
We peer deeper into our empathic connections in relationship

What do we do with this information?

As we move further away from the Winter Solstice
Closer to Groundhog Day, Chinese-Lunar New Year and then Spring Equinox
It becomes easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel

But in this darkness, it is a good time for
watching our surfacing dark feelings with a gentle gaze

Painful as they may be, it is wise to be informed by them
Without holding onto the shores
Or becoming consumed by their emotional darkness

May we write injuries in dust, benefits in marble

It has been 20 years since my mom killed herself
Half my lifetime ago

Leaving behind so much grieving for all of us
Such a challenge digging through the dark without losing sight of the light
Hasn’t been the first time I’ve been knocked down
And it won’t be the last

But the bell I choose to listen to
Is a bell of mindfulness

When I look to the past, I live in the present, with my eye on the future
Whatever I get hit with
I’m going to keep getting back up
And you can too

Lynx is a good reminder to hold onto knowledge with watchful eyes
Knowing that sometimes silence is a higher form of honesty
Even in transparency, we respect confidentiality

Now Mercury is in retrograde
Let go of left brain, rational, logical trying to figure it all out cognitive processes

Might as well go with the flow and open up to allowing
creative, intuitive, illogical and feminine faculties
to come out and play

Are you trusting your instincts?

Open minds channel alternative pathways and novel thinking

Seeing ourselves as eternal springs with an unlimited internal well of resources
helps shift from a victim mentality toward our True soul power

Clean care and clean Love burns greener energy into our atmosphere

Feed your soul with full-bellied laughter
Let your love and light shine on by wearing a genuine heart-smile

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Spiritual Awakenings with Hawk

Hawk swoops in this week
Circling our dreams
Visionaries of air
Are these spirited winged creatures

Akin to Mercury
Weaving creativity into our daily living
Awakening conversations with the Universe
Remembering magical songs like

We Shall Overcome

Even if this mantra feels like a Twilight Zone retrograde

Hawk medicine signals us to become observant of
Obvious signs lurking beneath shadowy surface realities
Shedding Light on synchronicity

Pay attention!

If only we can open-up to being clear channels right now
We can discern our intuitive hits
Amplifying our capacity for accurate reception of Universal truths
from illusionary realities

Imagine what a beautiful world we could live in
When the political will of intention
Reveals an abundant air of clear skies with clouds of shared resources
From neurons to neighborhoods

Supporting the rising tide of the overwhelming majority
Watering a critical mass of co-creativity
We work toward a common sense goal of mutual aid and respect

A heightened sense of awareness
Conjures up increased responsibility
to see the big picture
without getting lost in pesky details

Don’t get lost in ungraceful emotional reactivity and fixed ideas
Let those stories become introverted opportunities for self-reflections
Might as well allow for personal discovery of your judgments and positions
Be mindful of your feelings and keep them with self-control
rather than being a victim by giving away your power to someone else at close range

Like the light of Grandfather Sun
Seeing with a keen eye and bold heart
Hawk helps us know when to grab an opportunity
or hold discernment of hazards that counteract our freedom of flight
so that we remain grounded

Teaching temperance
Knowing harmony in moderation
We become strong and powerful
Through a soft and gentle way of being

See you further on up the trails,

Ari